We’re a little under two months away from the 2025 NHL Trade Deadline, and Daily Faceoff has you covered for everything leading up to the unofficial hockey holiday.

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2025 NHL Trade Deadline Countdown: 43 days

Today, we’ll be looking at all the teams who may potentially be sellers at this year’s trade deadline and figure out just how much they should be selling at the deadline. The key to a good retool or rebuild is knowing just how much you need to move to give you the assets you need for the long term while still ensuring a solid team for the young guys to join. Otherwise, you just end up being the Buffalo Sabres.

(Players appearing on Frank Seravalli’s Trade Targets board are indicated below)

Buffalo Sabres

Trade Targets: Dylan Cozens (C), Bowen Byram (D), Jack Quinn (RW)
What’s the Game Plan?: Who even knows anymore

Oh, hey, speaking of the Sabres.

If it wasn’t obvious, the Sabres were the inspiration for this concept. The 2014-15 Sabres went all-in on tanking like you would in Be a GM mode in the NHL games, trading any player with a pulse who was making a positive impact on that team to tank for Connor McDavid. They didn’t get McDavid, but still got Eichel, and yet they had gutted their depth so badly that they could just never recover… and still haven’t 10 years later.

Now here we are. The Sabres have the longest postseason drought in NHL history, and are tied with the New York Jets for the longest in North America at 13 seasons, and they’re no closer to it now than they were 10 years ago. Not only that, but they’re a factory of depreciating assets. Players come in either as immediate help or a long-term project and yet get worse, and then the Sabres move them out, only to watch them play the best hockey of their careers. Ryan O’Reilly, Jack Eichel, Sam Reinhart, and Brandon Montour alone have won Cups with their new teams, and it leaves Buffalo in an existential crisis where they’re not sure if they want to cut bait on more players because it’s not working, or be patient and not watch players due better with new teams.

If there is any light down the tunnel for the Sabres, there was a team in a similar situation last year that I gave the game plan of “Who even knows anymore” to: the Ottawa Senators. That seemed like a tough puzzle to solve, and yet the Sens remained patient, moved on from a couple players, took a big swing at Linus Ullmark, and now they’re leading the wild card race. If you want to take it another layer deep, the Senators were last in the East and 29th in the league when that article was published. The Sabres are currently last in the East and are tied for 29th in the league. I’m not saying that it’s a foregone conclusion that Buffalo will turn things around, but maybe being patient when all seems lost isn’t the worst idea either.

Columbus Blue Jackets

Trade Targets: Ivan Provorov (D), Mathieu Olivier (RW)
What’s the Game Plan?: Ride the wave

The Columbus Blue Jackets are easily the best story in the league right now. After everything the team since the 2023 offseason, including the tragic passing of Johnny Gaudreau, left very few people with high hopes on this season for Columbus. They seemed poised to be sellers, even early on in the season. And yet despite all odds, we’re more than halfway through the season, and they’re very much in the fight for a wild card spot. And it’s all led by a young core that has taken significant steps forward.

Regardless of where the Blue Jackets were in the standings this season, the team is still on the upswing of their rebuild, so a full blown fire sale was never in the plans. But, there were certainly some veterans that would have been dealt at the deadline, and some would have fetched a great return, particularly Provorov. But now that they find themselves a bit ahead of schedule, do they change the plans? Without a doubt.

The Blue Jackets could very easily do what the Philadelphia Flyers did when they were surprising contenders for a playoff spot and still sell some pending free agents, but these are also two teams in different stages of their rebuild. The Flyers were looking to acquire the capital to bring in their core. The Blue Jackets already have theirs. So unless they experience a tailspin in the next month, selling the UFAs should be off the table. The real question should be whether or not they want to buy at the deadline, but that is also something that should be handled delicately. Basically, don’t give up any key future pieces unless you’re dealing with a high-impact, long-term acquisition like a Jack Eichel or a Matthew Tkachuk.

Detroit Red Wings

Trade Targets: N/A
What’s the Game Plan?: Wait and see how things go, but probably look to sell

Just when it seemed like the Detroit Red Wings weren’t going to be able to capture the magic of last season, they finally moved on from Derek Lalonde and brought in Todd McLellan. Since the coaching change, they’re 8-4-1, highlighted by a seven-game winning streak, and have certainly put themselves within range of a playoff spot, although they still have a lot of work to do there.

But that’s probably where the high hopes should end. The Red Wings have lost four of their last five games, and while they have seen their defensive metrics improve to mediocre (ranked 16th in expected goals against per 60 minutes since McLellan’s hiring with 2.42), their offensive metrics are still very poor (28th in expected goals for per 60 with 2.12), ultimately placing them in 25th in 5v5 expected goal share as a whole at 46.67%. The coaching has helped, but this roster is still very flawed.

Considering how long the Red Wings have been in this rebuild, it’s not the worst idea to wait a bit on selling to at least let the good vibes continue and see how the team does, and if you’re going to buy, buy for the long term. But that said, this isn’t a strong, playoff-contending roster, and even with a new coach bump, they’ve already begun to drift out of the picture. Once they get too far out, they should be looking to sell off the pending UFAs that they don’t expect to be with the team long-term and try to improve next season.

Montreal Canadiens

Trade Targets: Jake Evans (C), Josh Anderson (W)
What’s the Game Plan?: Sell off the UFAs, keep playing the kids

The Montreal Canadiens have probably had one of the biggest in-season turnarounds this year. At the start of the year, they were one of the worst defensive teams in the league and seemed poised for another year high up on the draft board. But in the past two months, they’ve been playing like a playoff contender, and that’s where they find themselves right now.

Much like the Red Wings, the play under the hood during the Canadiens hot run hasn’t exactly been what you’d want out of a playoff contender, but with a 48.49% 5v5 xGF%, it’s a bit more sustainable than Detroit. So, how do the Canadiens approach this deadline with a team on the fringes of making the playoffs but still in a rebuild?

As I’ve mentioned with the Blue Jackets and Red Wings, the key for the Canadiens is patience. They shouldn’t buy just yet, as it’s better to see how this run unfolds and how much longer they can hang in the playoff race. If they do, they should look to make moves that will help them in the long term (the Alex Carrier addition is a great start). If they falter back into lottery contention, then they can focus on selling off the assets that they don’t see having a long-term fit, let their younger talent continue to develop in roles that they’re capable of for the rest of the season, and try again next year.

New York Islanders

Trade Targets: Brock Nelson (C), Kyle Palmieri (RW), Jean-Gabriel Pageau (C)
What’s the Game Plan?: Just give up already

The world would be a much better place if everyone loved each other the way Lou Lamoriello loves this current New York Islanders core. If you squint hard enough, I understand why. After all, this is the group that persevered through John Tavares leaving the team for the Toronto Maple Leafs, and then went on to win six playoff series’ and make the Conference Finals twice in the following three seasons.

But this isn’t that Islanders group anymore. Well, it is, but that’s the problem. Everyone is now three years older, and even at their best, the group was playing above their heads thanks to the masterful systems of Barry Trotz. Now two head coaches removed from that era, this team is mediocre at best, and this season they aren’t even that good, as in an Eastern Conference playoff race featuring almost the entirety of the conference, the Islanders are one of two teams not really involved in it. And yet, there’s been no indication that Lamoriello is ready to sell.

If the Islanders don’t sell, it would be a big failure in terms of turning around this team. Nelson would be the best center available on the trade market if he were made available, and Palmieri and Pageau would also fetch good returns. On top of that, now would be an excellent time to jump on moving on from one of Ryan Pulock, Adam Pelech or Scott Mayfield before age catches up to them, especially with the term on their deals. But we saw the same problem with Lamoriello’s late 2000s and early 2010s New Jersey Devils teams – the man does not want to give up on them and would rather dwell in mediocrity than rebuild. Hopefully, he finally changes his mind in the next couple of months.

New York Rangers

Trade Targets: Ryan Lindgren (D), Will Borgen (D), Zac Jones (D), K’Andre Miller (D)
What’s the Game Plan?: Tread carefully

The New York Rangers have certainly been one of the stranger teams this year. Many would have expected them to contend for a Stanley Cup this season, and yet for a good stretch, they were one of the worst teams in the league. But perhaps one of the weirdest things is that despite all of the panic, the Rangers didn’t overreact too much. Sure, the Jacob Trouba situation was not handled very well, but both he and Kaapo Kakko had been in trade rumors when the Rangers were good, too, so they didn’t drastically pivot from their original game plan outside of what they told the public from time to time.

The Rangers have since stabilized a bit, going 7-4-0 in their last 11 games and they sit two points out of a playoff spot. But that doesn’t necessarily mean the problem is solved. The core that they put their faith in had a very ugly stretch, and that has exposed some flaws with the team, particularly their defensive issues. As the trade deadline approaches, they need to find some way to change things up.

The key for the Rangers is to pick their spots carefully. Jumping in on the drama surrounding the Vancouver Canucks and trying to pluck J.T. Miller at a low value is a good start, but you also have to be careful with what you give up. Frank Seravalli’s most recent trade targets list indicates that four defensemen are on the block, and one would likely be the return for Miller. But then, how are you improving the blue line? Is that where you move on from a core piece like Chris Kreider or Mika Zibanejad? Is that even the right move? It’s a tricky situation that the Rangers have found themselves in, so they just need to be careful with how they approach if they want to keep their Cup window open. But the recent stability has at least indicated that it’s not quite time to blow it all up.

Philadelphia Flyers

Trade Targets: Joel Farabee (LW), Rasmus Ristolainen (D)
What’s the Game Plan?: Enjoy a normal rebuilder’s trade deadline this season

If you gave Flyers general manager Daniel Briere truth serum last season, I’m sure he probably wasn’t happy with how last season turned out. Sure, it’s nice to see a team that you’re trying to rebuild and get more youth into the team succeed, especially when it was done sustainably, but they were only just starting their rebuild and needed a few more years of high draft picks to really have a core together. That season cost them a top-10 pick in the draft, and they didn’t even make the playoffs.

This season has certainly shown why the Flyers need a rebuild. Yes, they’re still hanging around in the playoff race, but they’re lacking the talent up front, on the blue line, and in the net that they would have hoped to acquire through a full rebuild. But good news, Daniel, you can actually pull off a traditional seller’s deadline without feeling like you’re doing the team a disservice.

The Flyers are good but not great, and they’ll probably drift further and further out of the playoff race as the deadline approaches, and they can finally begin to do a proper rebuild. They lack any big-name pending UFAs, but Farabee and Ristolainen can also get some decent attention with the term that they have as well, and between that and their own picks, they can start to beef up their prospect pool even more than they’ve already managed to despite their previous situation.

Pittsburgh Penguins

Trade Targets: N/A
What’s the Game Plan?: Fire sale… what fire sale?

Originally, when I typed out that game plan, it was going to be a joke about the reports that Pittsburgh Penguins general manager Kyle Dubas was looking for a fire sale at the deadline and how there weren’t exactly a lot of assets to sell. Now that Dubas has denied those reports, the same plan acts as more of a joke about the indecisiveness of the organization.

It’s not that there isn’t a crystal-clear agenda with the Penguins. It’s quite obvious that they’re trying to maintain a competitive window while Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang are around, and then start a rebuild after. Dubas wouldn’t have been given a seven-year contract if that wasn’t the case. But that didn’t stop them from selling Jake Guentzel while in a playoff race themselves, so the agenda can still be a bit confusing.

For me, there’s one course of action for the Penguins that would be the best way to navigate the current plan while also setting themselves up well in the long term, and that’s to keep doing what they’ve already done this season with acquiring younger projects with high upside. Blake Lizotte, Cody Glass, Anthony Beauvillier and Philip Tomasino have already been interesting adds that could pay off, and at least gives the Penguins some good complimentary players down the road during the rebuild phase, a good way to not risk going too deep into selling. Beyond that, they should listen to offers on any player on the roster, but only pull the trigger on ones that they can’t refuse. That way, they’re selectively selling and helping the long term without committing a fire sale and going against Crosby’s wishes.

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